The 7 Deadly Sins: Wrath

Last week, we talked about Sloth, or Acedia, which cause us to lose joy in the good things in life and in spiritual goods. Many of us suffer from this sin, which is why we need to make every effort to be faithful in our prayer and participating in mass. This is the only way to overcome Sloth.

Today, we will talk about Wrath. I know that with many of these sins, at first glance they seem very strange, Wrath, Sloth, Gluttony, we don?t have problems with these, right? Our topic today, Wrath, I don?t know what that means but I don?t think I am known for my wrath, right? Well, I know that as I read more about them, what they are and what their effects are, they are very relevant to me and I do, in fact, struggle with these. I hope that as we discuss them, it gives us all greater insight into some of the ways that Satan is attempting to separate us from God and ways in which he tries to trick us into being unhappy.

Another word for wrath is anger. Now the sin begins to hit closer to home. Which of us hasn?t at least occasionally descended into the throes of anger? Now, sometimes anger is okay. It isn?t as if whenever you feel angry you are sinning. Sometimes we are angry about things we ought to be angry about. Our Lord was angry with the merchants in the Temple, the Bible tells us to be angry but sin not. I know that I feel anger when I think about the abortion industry. Anger is a passion, or an emotion, and we aren?t responsible for what we feel. We are, however, responsible for how we act, how we deal with the emotion. It must be regulated by reason. So, the anger must be over a properly evil circumstance. And, the reason must regulate the emotion so it doesn?t consume you.

Let?s take an example. Someone cuts in front of you on the highway without using the turn signal on their car. This causes a bit of anger, right? Fine. But, quickly, I hope, reason kicks in and says, that wasn?t a huge deal, it was irritating but not worth getting worked up over, let?s forget about it. Or how about the abortion clinic example. Is it reasonable to stand in front of the clinic and scream at the employees that they are going to hell? Or, is it reasonable to quietly pray and offer help to any women who might be needing it.
So, anger needs to be within reason and caused by evil circumstances, otherwise it becomes a deadly sin. What is the great harm, here? First of all, people who are inordinately angry have a tendency to fall away from God. Anytime we have grave sins on our conscience the first impulse is, like Adam and Eve, to hide from Him. Further, with all of these deadly sins we are talking about, they result in a whole host of other sins. St. Thomas Aquinas talks about the 6 ?daughters? of Wrath. He lists: quarreling, swelling of the mind, contumely, clamor, indignation, and blasphemy By Swelling of the Mind he means pride. Contumely is harsh language. Clamor means causing what the kids today call ?drama?, stirring up trouble that should be left alone. Blasphemy can result from anger because we often unfairly blame God.

The virtue that overcomes Wrath is Temperance, or moderation. It is good for us in all situations to reasonably examine what is happening before we react, to moderate our reaction. Don?t send the angry email, don?t say the spiteful word, don?t over-react to a small misdeed.

To me, the best examples for how to deal with anger are the saints. St. Isidore the Fool, for instance, was always treated badly by the nuns she lived with. She was not angry, instead she thanked God for the opportunity to stay humble and to suffer. When the nuns realized that Isidore was a Saint and began to treat her well, she left the convent to become a hermit. May she and all the saints pray for us as we struggle to imitate Our Lord.